Method of and apparatus for canning figs



July 12, 1927.

A. T. GAHAN METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR CANNINWFIGS Filed July 7, 1926INVENTOR A. T Gala an BY TT oRNEY Q Q o 3 E) w m m w .hw'

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* from which the figs are t Patented July112,

UNITED 'ST sinner 'r. emu, or raasno, camromwm.

mirnonor' AND uraaa'rnsron summer-res.

Application med July 'i, 1926. Serial lq'o. 120,969

This invention relates to improvements in the fruit canning industry:and particularly to the canningof figs The figs are placed in syrup intheir cans and then cooked somewhat before the cans are sealed.. As iswell known I causes an appreciable percentage of the figs siderable lossis thereb y entailed.

to split and be otherwise damaged and con- The principal object of myinvention therefore is to eliminate the above objection able features byarranging for the figs to be precooked after being placed in the cansand for passing the cans automatically and continuously from theprecooln'ng tank to the syrup tank, while providing for the positivedraining of the wa tercfrom the cans after they leave the prcooking tankand before they enter thesyrup tank.

By means of this arrangement any handling of the figs after they areonce in a softened condition is avoided and the figs are never "touchedafterthey. are once'placed in the cans in their normal dry condition.Canning operations are therefore expedited and losses due to damaging ofthe figs by handling the same is eliminated.

A fu her object of the invention is to pro-, duce a simple andinexpensive device and yet one which will be exceedingly effective forthe purpose for which it is designed.

These objects I'accomplish by means of -such structure and relativearrangement of parts as will fullyjappear by a persual of the followingspecification and claims.

' In the drawings similar characters of reference. indicatecorresponding parts in the several views;.

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the precooking and syruptanks'showing the ean container conveying apparatus arranged inconnection therewith and with the containers in the positions occupiedduring their movement lengthwise of the tanks, to illustrate the methodof positioning and;;--handling the-containers.

- from the skin ofthe Fig. 2- is an enlarged cross section of the syruptank and a can container therein taken on t e line 22 of Fig. 1.

Aries] PATEN-TI 'oFHcE.

Fig. '3 1s a vertlcalsection of a, can con- 5 tainer.

. Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on thedrawings, the

numeral '1 denotes the water tank of any de-' sired length beyond whichand in alinement therewith is a separate tank 2 to contain syrup. Thewater in the-tank 1 is maintained at a temperature suitable for.precooking purposes in. any desired manner, such as by means of a steampipe 3 projectingj lengthwise "in the tank from therear end thereof, thewater bein arranged to overflow from the front end. 0 the tank. Thispermits the 'obgectionable substance surface to overflow from tlie tank.

gs and rising to :the

Disposed-above the tanks adjacent the oppositeends of the same sprocketwheels 4 over which passes an endless chain 5. From 4 the sprocketwheels the chain slopes downwardly at an angle and thenextends-horizontally and just above for the greater portion of thelength thereof.

the respective tanks Said chain is guided between the sprocket T 4Wheels wherever needed by idlers 6 and is 8 supported for its fulllength between the sprocket member wardly at and of the tanks as 7, saidmember being arched uptoward the tank 2 by any suitable means; which itis not thought necessary to show.

wheels by a rigid channel or similar between the adjacent ends at 8 sothat the chain will 00 fol1ow.a similar path. The chain is driven sothat its lower run travels from tank 1 The figsto be passed through thetanks are first placed in cans 9 which are temporarily" v packed incontainers 10 which are formed 'as'o en topped rectangular boxes, thetop of t e cans'being left open. The bottoms of the containersarepermanently attached but are preferablyof slatted or similarconstruction to allow the free fiow of watertherethroughi. The contentsof the cans are prevented from falling out when the boxes are turned onedge by removable screen frames 11 which are detachably mounted over thetop of the boxes in any" suitable manner;

. The upper faces -note those faces which project upwardl when the boxesare tipped as above stated ice.

of theboxes" (which dehave eyes 12 thereon to'be engaged by for: i f

wardly facing hooks 13 projecting at intervals from the chain. The widthof the boxes is such that they will pass free between the sides of thetank.

In operation the boxes are hung one by one onto the chain hooks at theforward end of the tank 1, so that the screen covers on the boxes facethe forward end of the tank. WVith the longitudinal travel of the chainsthe boxes'are gradually lowered and immersed into the water in the tank1, until they ride on longitudinal runners 14 mounted in the tank, theboxes being then completely immersed-in the water. The runners areso'disposed as to take the weight of the boxes from the chains and thelongitudinal movement of the latter then causes the boxes to be draggedalong the runners and said boxes then assume a slight tilt 'toward therear, as shown in Fig. 1. NVhen the boxes are in this position the watermay freely flow into and out of the cans, precooking the contents,without the possibility of air pockets being formed in the cans onaccount of the rearward tilt of the boxes and theconsequent forward andupward tilt of the cans.

As the boxes reach the rear end of the tank and the chains start ontheir upward slope, the boxes are lifted from the runners and are freelysuspended from the hooks. lVhen in this position the boxes assume aforward tilt," or one opposite to that had while in the tank. This isowing to the positioning of theeyes 12 which is forwardly ofthe verticalcenter line of the boxes. The arch channel portion 8 of the chainsupporting member is so arranged that with tilt as before.

the continued movement of the chain the boxes will be raised clear ofthe rear end of the tank 1, moved beyond the -adjacent end of the tank 2in clearance relation therewith, and then downwardly into said tank 2.The distance and length of time between lifting the boxes out of the onetank and their immersion into the other is sufficient to insure allWater draining out of the boxes and cans, which it will readily do onaccount of the downward slant ofthe cans then had.

.As the boxes become immersed in the syrup" in the tank 2 they ride onrunners 15 in said tank which causes the boxes to assume a tilt the sameas that had in the tank 1 and for the same purpose. As. the chain risesto the sprocket 4 at the rear end of tank 2, the boxes will be suspendedfrom the hooks, and will again assume a rearward This allows the syrupto drain from the cans. movement of the chains about said rear sprocketsthe hooks 13 tend to disengage themselves from the eyes 12, the rearsprocket tbeing beyond the tank 2, a sufficient dis tance to enable theboxes -to drop clear of the tank.

In connection with this apparatus, I con- WVit-h the upward coversupwardly. The screens may then be removed from the boxes and the canslikeawiseremoved for further treatment as usual.

It may here .be noted that the syrup is H being continuously changed inthe tank 2, by adding syrup to the'top of'the tank and pumping the syrupfrom the bottom of tank 2 to a storage tank. In this tank the syrup isstrained and tested for its sugar content and is then used to refill thecans before the latter pass to the closin machine.

From the foregoing escription it will be readily seen that I haveproduced such a device as substantially fulfills the objects of theinvention as set forth herein.

While this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferredconstruction of the devite, still in practice such deviations from suchdetail may be resorted to as do not form a departure from the spirit ofthe in vcntion, as defined by the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and useful anddesire to secure by Letters Patent is: 1. In fig canning, a method oftreating the figs consisting in placing the figs in open cans, immersingthe cans in heated water to precook the figs, and then removing the cansfrom the 'water and immersing them in syrup.

2. In fig canning, a method of treating the figs consisting in placingthe figsin open cans, immersing the cans in heated water to precook thefigs, and then removing the cans from the water and immersing them insyrup, all'with a continuous operation.

3. In fig canning, a method of treating the figs consisting inplacingthe figs in open cans, immersing and moving the cans throughheated water to precook the figs.

removing the CfiIlSfl'Oll'l the water and at the same time causing thewater to be drained from the cans, and then immersing the cans in syrup.I

4. In fig canning, a method of treating the no i figs consisting inplacing the figs in open cans, immersing. the cans in heated water toprecook the figs, causing the cans to be moved through the water, andthen causing the cans to be automatically raised from the water andsubsequently filled with syrup.

5. An apparatus fol-treating figs in open cans comprising separatedwater and syrup tanks, and means mounted in connection with along andout of the tinuous operation.

6. An apparatus for treating figs in open the tanks for moving the cansinto, along and then out of said watertank and Into,

syrup tank with a con-,'

cans comprising separated water and s rup" raising the cans out of thewater, means whereby with the movement of the cans un-' der water saidcans will be caused to assume an upward tilt toward their open ends, and

. means whereby as the cans are raised out of the water the tilt will beautomatically re- .versed. I

8. An apparatus for treating figs in open cans comprising separatedwater and syrup tanks, means -mounted in connection with the tanks formoving the cans into, along and then out of said water tank and into,-along and out of the syrup tank, means causing the cans to assume adownward tilt toward their open ends as they are raised'out of thewater, and, means causing the cans to assume a tilt in the oppositedirection as they are raised out of the syrup tank.

9. An apparatus for treating figs in open cans comprising separatedwater and syrup moved along the syrup tank, and finally.

pally disposed sprocket wheels tanks, and means mounted in connectionwith the tanks for causing the cansto be first immersed'in the watertank and subsequently in the syrup tank with a continuous operation. a

l0. An-apparatus for treating figs comprising selparated o' en-toppedwater. and syrup tan s, an en ess member mounted over the tanks andmovable lengthwise thereof, a container to receive an'opencan in 'asubstantially horizontal position, means for suspending thecontainenfrom the endless member, and means supporting and guiding saidmember in a manner to ermit tie container, with the longitudina movementof said member, to be immersed in the water and moved along the watertank; thenraised clear of said tank; then lowered into-and raised fromsaid syru tank; 1 11. An apparatus or treating figs comprising separatedopen-topped water and syrup tanks, said tanks being aline'd, verti--t'afhks adjagent the oppositeends {thereof a vehain"passir fg over'saidwheels, 'saidcl ain sloping downwardly from the wheels, mean guiding andsupporting th'echain in a man ner to maintain the same substantiallyhori- Y'zontal for the major portion of the length of the tank's butcausing said chain to arch upygardly 'adjacent the-ends of and betweenhooksprojecting outwardly from over said the chain atintervals,containers to receive cans in a horizontal position, and aneye on each container to en age-a hook; the chain supporting structureeing so disposed, relative to the tank as to enable thecontainer to beimmersed in one tank and then removed 'from said tank and immersed inthe other tank with the travel of the chain along the supporting means.f

12. An apparatus for treating figs including an open-topped water tank,a movable chain disposed lengthwise of and above'the I tank, a sprocketwheel to which the chain slopes upwardly-at the forward end of the tank,means at'the'other end of the tank for causing the chain to slopeupwardly from the tank, a hookprojecting-outwardly from the chain, acontainer to receive cans in a horizontal position, an eye .On thecontainer for engagement with the hook, means where-v by when thecontainer is suspended from the hook and lowered into the tank with thetravel of the chain the container will automatically assume aslant suchthat the cans slope upwardly toward their mouth, and means whereby asthe hook moves u vw'ardly with the chain'at the opposite en tank' theslant of the container and cans will be reversed. I

13. An. apparatus for treating figs in;

of the eluding an open-topped water tank, a mo'v able chain disposedlengthwise of and above the tank, a sprocket wheel to which the chainslopes upwardly at the forward end of the tank, means at the other endof the tank for causing the chain to slope upwardly from the tank, ahook projecting outwardly from the chairf, .a container to receive cansin a horizontal position, an eye on the container for engagement withthe hook, the cans bemg open and facing the forwarde'nd wof ,the tank;and the eye being disposed *fahead of the vertical center line of thecontainer, and'runners in the tank to support the'weight of thecontainer when the latter is'lowered into the tank by the movement ofthe chain.

14. In fig canning, a method ofinitially treating the figs consisting inplacing the figs in open cans, passing the cans through a precookingmedium, and'then adding a preservative to the figs.

treating the figs consisting in placing the figs in ,open cans, passingthe cans through heated water to precook the figs, draining 15. In figcanning, a method of initially the-kawater from the'cans, and .addingsyrup to'the figs. v

16. An apparatus for treating fi s in open cans comprising a water tankan a syruping means beyond-the tank, means mounted in connection withthe. tank and syrupin' means for moving the cans into, along and thenout of said tank and then past the syrupmg means, and means-forcausingthe Water to be drained from the cans as they leave the tank.

17. An apparatus for treating figs including an open-topped Water tank,an endless member mounted over the tank and movable lengthwise thereof,a container to receive an open can, means for suspending the containerfrom saidmember so that the can is substantially horizontal, and meanssupporting and guiding said member in a manner to cause the container,with the Ion-- gitudlnal movement of said member, to be lowered intowater at one end of the tank,

ture.

ALBERT T. GAHAN.

